Editing Luchino Visconti

{{Short description|Italian theatre, opera and cinema director}}
{{other uses|Luchino Visconti (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}

{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix   = ''[[Don (honorific)|Don]]''
| image              = Luchino Visconti 1972b.jpg
| imagesize          = 
| caption            = Visconti in 1972
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|df=yes|1906|11|2}}
| birth_place        = [[Milan]], [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1976|3|17|1906|11|2}}
| death_place        = [[Rome]], Italy
| occupation         = {{hlist|[[Film director]]|[[screenwriter]]|[[theater director]]|[[opera director]]}}
| years_active       = 1943–1976
| notable_works      = {{hlist|''[[Ossessione]]''|''[[La Terra Trema]]''|''[[Senso (film)|Senso]]''|''[[Rocco and His Brothers]]''|''[[The Leopard (1963 film)|The Leopard]]''|''[[The Damned (1969 film)|The Damned]]''|''[[Death in Venice (film)|Death in Venice]]''|''[[Ludwig (film)|Ludwig]]''|''[[Conversation Piece (film)|Conversation Piece]]''}}
| title              = Count of [[Lonate Pozzolo]]
| spouse             = 
| partner            = [[#Personal life|See below]]
| relatives          = {{ubl|
* [[Eriprando Visconti]] (nephew)
* [[Uberto Pasolini]] (grandnephew)
}}
| family             = [[Visconti di Modrone]]
}}

'''Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo''' ({{IPA|it|luˈkiːno viˈskonti di moˈdroːne|lang}}; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, theatre and opera director, and screenwriter. He was one of the fathers of [[Italian neorealism|cinematic neorealism]], but later moved towards luxurious, sweeping epics dealing with themes of beauty, decadence, death, and European history, especially the decay of the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Critic [[Jonathan Jones (journalist)|Jonathan Jones]] wrote that “no one did as much to shape Italian cinema as Luchino Visconti.”<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Jonathan |date=2001-12-12 |title=Count zero |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/dec/12/artsfeatures |access-date=2023-11-28 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Born into a [[Milan]]ese [[Visconti di Modrone|noble family]] with close ties to the artistic world, Visconti began his career in [[France]] as an [[assistant director]] to [[Jean Renoir]]. His 1943 directorial debut, {{Lang|it|[[Ossessione]]}}, was condemned by the [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist]] regime for its unvarnished depictions of working-class characters, but is today renowned as a pioneering work of Italian cinema, generally regarded as the first neorealist film. During [[World War II]], he served in the [[Italian resistance movement|anti-fascist resistance]], and afterwards was active in left-wing politics.

Visconti's best-known films include ''[[Senso (film)|Senso]]'' (1954) and ''[[The Leopard (1963 film)|The Leopard]]<ref>'THE LEOPARD' IN ITS ORIGINAL LAIR: Care and Authenticity Mark screen Version of Modern Classic By HERBERT MITGANG. New York Times 29 July 1962: 69</ref>'' (1963), which are historical melodramas adapted from Italian literary classics, the gritty drama ''[[Rocco and His Brothers]]'' (1960), and his "German Trilogy" – ''[[The Damned (1969 film)|The Damned]]'' (1969), ''[[Death in Venice (film)|Death in Venice]]'' (1971) and ''[[Ludwig (film)|Ludwig]]'' (1973). He was also an accomplished director of operas and stage plays, both in Italy and abroad, and held a close association with [[La Scala]] in his hometown of Milan.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Visconti's Verdi – Italian Journal |url=https://italianjournal.it/viscontis-verdi/ |access-date=2023-11-28 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Visconti received several notable accolades, including both the {{Lang|fr|[[Palme d'Or]]|italic=no}} (for ''The Leopard'') and the [[Golden Lion]] (for 1965's ''[[Sandra (1965 film)|Sandra]]''), the latter out of five total nominations. He won the [[David di Donatello for Best Director]] twice and the [[Nastro d'Argento for Best Director]] four times, and was both an [[Academy Award|Oscar]] and [[BAFTA Award]] nominee. Six of Visconti's films are on the list of [[100 film italiani da salvare|100 Italian films to be saved]]. Many of his works are regarded as highly-influential to future generations of filmmakers, including [[Francis Ford Coppola]] and [[Martin Scorsese]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Where to begin with Luchino Visconti|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-luchino-visconti|access-date=2021-05-04|website=British Film Institute|date=17 March 2016 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Kiang|first=Jessica|date=2015-10-08|title=The Essentials: The 8 Best Luchino Visconti Films|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2015/10/the-essentials-the-8-best-luchino-visconti-films-113398/|access-date=2021-05-04|website=IndieWire|language=en}}</ref>

==Early life==
[[File:COA Visconti di Modrone di Milano.jpg|thumb|left|120px|[[Visconti di Modrone|Family arms]]]]

Luchino Visconti was born into a prominent noble family in [[Milan]], one of seven children of Giuseppe [[Visconti di Modrone]], Duke of Grazzano Visconti and Count of [[Lonate Pozzolo]], and his wife Carla<ref>[http://mannerofman.blogspot.com/2008/11/mm-icon-luchino-visconti.html "M/M Icon: Luchino Visconti"], ''Manner of Man Magazine'' online at mannerofman.com, 2 November 2010. Retrieved 18 November 2012</ref> (''née'' Erba, heiress to [[Carlo Erba SpA|Erba Pharmaceuticals]]). He was formally known as Count ''[[Don (honorific)|don]]'' Luchino Visconti di Modrone, and his family is a branch of the [[Visconti of Milan]] where they ruled from 1277 to 1447, initially as lords, then as dukes.

He grew up in the Milanese family seat, the ''Palazzo Visconti di Modrone'' in Via Cerva, as well as on the family estate, ''Grazzano Visconti Castle'' near [[Vigolzone]]. He was baptized and raised in the [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] church.<ref name=flatley>{{Cite news|last=Flatley|first=Guy|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/27/archives/yes-he-threw-no-tantrum.html|title=Yes, He Threw No Tantrum|date=27 June 1971|archive-url=https://archive.today/20211001033949/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/27/archives/yes-he-threw-no-tantrum.html|archive-date=1 October 2021|url-status=live|access-date=1 October 2021}}</ref> After his parents separated in the early 1920s, his mother moved with her younger children, including him, to her own house in Milan, as well as to her summer residence, [[Villa Erba]] in [[Cernobbio]] on Lake Como. The father, as chamberlain of King [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy]], also owned a villa in Rome that Luchino later inherited and lived in for decades.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
8955 - Milano - Palazzo Visconti di Grazzano (sec. XVIII) - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto 22-Apr-2007.jpg|Palazzo Visconti di Modrone in Milan
Grazzano Visconti - panoramio - Gregorini Demetrio (1).jpg|Grazzano Visconti Castle
Villa Erba - dal lago.jpg|[[Villa Erba]] on Lake Como
</gallery>

In his early years, he was exposed to art, music and theatre: The ''Palazzo Visconti di Modrone'' in Milan, where he grew up, had its own small private theatre and the children participated in its performances. The family also had their own box in the [[La Scala]] opera house. Luchino studied cello with the Italian cellist and composer [[Lorenzo de Paolis]] (1890–1965) and met the composer [[Giacomo Puccini]], the conductor [[Arturo Toscanini]] and the writer [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]].{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} Visconti found literature by reading Proust's ''[[In Search of Lost Time]]'', later a lifelong film project that he never realized. Before he started his film career, he was passionate about training racehorses in his own stable. He was engaged to Princess Irma of [[Windisch-Graetz]], but this raised concerns with her father, Prince Hugo, and Visconti broke the engagement off in 1935.<ref>L. Schifano: ''Luchino Visconti. Fürst des Films'', biography (German translation), 1988, p. 141−151</ref>

== Wartime resistance activity ==
During [[World War II]], Visconti joined the [[Italian Communist Party]],<ref>L. Schifano: ''Luchino Visconti. Fürst des Films'', biography (German translation), 1988, p. 208</ref> which he considered to be the only effective opponent of [[Italian Fascism]]. While he had, in his early years, been impressed by such aesthetic aspects of the solemn parades of the [[National Fascist Party]] as marching in columns in boots and uniform, he had now come to hate the [[Mussolini]] regime. He accused the bourgeoisie of treason to tyranny, and following the [[Badoglio Proclamation]], began working with the [[Italian resistance movement|Italian resistance]]. He supported the communists' partisan fight at the risk of death; his villa in Rome became a meeting place for oppositional artists.

After the king's flight in the autumn of 1943 and the intervention of the Germans, he went into hiding in the mountains, at [[Settefrati]], under the [[nom de guerre]] ''Alfredo Guidi''. Visconti helped English and American prisoners of war hide after they had escaped, and also gave shelter to partisans in his house in Rome, with the help of actress [[María Denis]].<ref>L. Schifano: ''Luchino Visconti. Fürst des Films'', biography (German translation), 1988, p. 205−230</ref>

After the German occupation of Rome in April 1944, Visconti was arrested and detained by the anti-partisan [[Pietro Koch]] and sentenced to execution by firing squad. He was only saved from death by Denis' last-minute intervention. After the war, Visconti testified against Koch, who was himself convicted and executed.

==Career==
[[File:Luchino Visconti 5.jpg|thumb|Luchino Visconti]]

===Films===
He began his film-making career as a set dresser on [[Jean Renoir]]'s ''[[Partie de campagne]]'' (1936) through the intercession of their common friend [[Coco Chanel]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Visconti: Explorations of Beauty and Decay|url=https://archive.org/details/viscontiexplorat00baco|url-access=limited|last=Bacon|first=Henry|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1998|isbn=9780521599603|location=Cambridge|pages=[https://archive.org/details/viscontiexplorat00baco/page/n19 6]}}</ref> After a short tour of the United States, where he visited Hollywood, he returned to Italy to be Renoir's assistant again, this time for ''[[Tosca (1941 film)|Tosca]]'' (1941), a production that was interrupted and later completed by German director [[Karl Koch (director)|Karl Koch]].

Together with fellow members of the Milanese film journal ''Cinema -'' Gianni Puccini, [[Antonio Pietrangeli]] and [[Giuseppe De Santis]] - Visconti wrote the screenplay for his first film as director: {{Lang|it|[[Ossessione]]}} (''Obsession'', 1943), one of the first examples of [[Italian neorealism|neorealist]] (involving real locations and regular people) movies and an unofficial adaptation of the novel ''[[The Postman Always Rings Twice (novel)|The Postman Always Rings Twice]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Visconti: Explorations of Beauty and Decay|url=https://archive.org/details/viscontiexplorat00baco|url-access=limited|last=Bacon|first=Henry|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1998|isbn=9780521599603|location=Cambridge|pages=[https://archive.org/details/viscontiexplorat00baco/page/n27 14]}}</ref> The premiere of {{Lang|it|Ossessione}} took place at a film festival hosted by [[Vittorio Mussolini]] (son of [[Benito Mussolini|Benito]]), who was the national arbiter for cinema and other arts, and the editor of ''Cinema''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bacon |first=Henry |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36884283 |title=Visconti : explorations of beauty and decay |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-59057-4 |location=Cambridge |pages=15 |oclc=36884283}}</ref> Though prior to the premiere their working relationship was positive, upon viewing the film Vittorio stormed out of the theatre exclaiming: "This is not Italy!", according to the account of ''Cinema'' group contributor Aldo Scagnetti. The film was subsequently suppressed by the fascist regime, to the extent that the first public showing of the film in Rome only occurred in May 1945.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bacon |first=Henry |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36884283 |title=Visconti : explorations of beauty and decay |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-59057-4 |location=Cambridge |pages=16 |oclc=36884283}}</ref>

In 1948, he wrote and directed ''[[La terra trema]]'' (''The Earth Trembles''), based on the novel ''I Malavoglia'' by [[Giovanni Verga]]. 
Visconti continued working throughout the 1950s, but he veered away from the neorealist path with his 1954 film, ''[[Senso (film)|Senso]]'', shot in colour. Based on the novella by [[Camillo Boito]], it is set in Austrian-occupied Venice in 1866. In this film, Visconti combines [[Realism (arts)|realism]] and [[romanticism]] as a way to break away from neorealism. However, as one biographer notes, "Visconti without [[Italian neorealism|neorealism]] is like [[Fritz Lang|Lang]] without [[expressionism]] and [[Sergei Eisenstein|Eisenstein]] without [[Formalist film theory|formalism]]".<ref>Nowell-Smith, p. 9.</ref> He describes the film as the "most Viscontian" of all Visconti's films. Visconti returned to neorealism once more with ''[[Rocco and His Brothers|Rocco e i suoi fratelli]]'' (''Rocco and His Brothers'', 1960), the story of Southern Italians who migrate to Milan hoping to find financial stability. In 1961, he was a member of the jury at the [[2nd Moscow International Film Festival]].<ref name="Moscow1961">{{cite web|url=http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1961 |title=2nd Moscow International Film Festival (1961) |access-date=4 November 2012 |work=MIFF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116210653/http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1961 |archive-date=16 January 2013 }}</ref>

Turning away from neo-realism, Visconti created an unmistakable visual language in his films from the 1960s onwards. Thanks to his unique blend of aristocratic and upper-class origins, communist political convictions and brilliant social analysis, he created masterpieces of film history in The Leopard (1963), The Damned (1969), Death in Venice (1971) and Ludwig (1972). 
Throughout the 1960s, Visconti's films became more personal. ''[[The Leopard (1963 film)|Il Gattopardo]]'' (''The Leopard'', 1963) is based on [[Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa|Lampedusa]]'s [[The Leopard|novel of the same name]] about the decline of the Sicilian aristocracy at the time of the [[Italian unification|Risorgimento]], where the change of times becomes visible in two of the main characters: Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina ([[Burt Lancaster]]) appears patriarchal but humane, while Don Calogero Sedara ([[Paolo Stoppa]]), a shrewd entrepreneur and social climber from the village, appears submissive, but foxy and brutal at the same time, a mafia-like type of the future. The tension arises from the marriage of their relatives of the next generation, combined with the fall of the old Bourbon rule and the rise of a united Italy. This film was distributed in America and Britain by [[Twentieth-Century Fox]], which deleted important scenes. Visconti repudiated the Twentieth-Century Fox version.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

It was not until ''[[The Damned (1969 film)|The Damned]]'' (1969) that Visconti received a nomination for an [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay]]. The film, one of Visconti's better-known works, concerns a German industrialist's family which begins to disintegrate during the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] consolidation of power in the 1930s. The film opened to widespread critical acclaim, but also faced controversy from rating boards for its sexual content, including depictions of [[homosexuality]], [[pedophilia]], [[rape]], and [[incest]]. In the United States, the film was given an [[X rating]]. The avant-garde filmmaker [[Rainer Werner Fassbinder]] praised it as his favourite movie. Its decadence and lavish beauty are characteristic of Visconti's aesthetic − very visible also in the movie ''[[Death in Venice (film)|Death in Venice]]'' (1971) that adapted the daring novella ''[[Death in Venice]]'' published in 1912 by [[Thomas Mann]].

Visconti's final film was ''[[The Innocent (1976 film)|The Innocent]]'' (1976), in which he returns to his recurring interest in infidelity and betrayal.

===Theatre===
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2020}}
Visconti was also a celebrated theatre and [[opera]] director. During the years 1946 to 1960, he directed many performances of the [[Rina Morelli]]-[[Paolo Stoppa]] Company with actor [[Vittorio Gassman]] as well as many celebrated productions of operas.

Visconti's love of opera is evident in the 1954 ''Senso'', where the beginning of the film shows scenes from the fourth act of ''[[Il trovatore]]'', which were filmed at the [[Teatro La Fenice]] in Venice. Beginning when he directed a production at Milan's [[Teatro alla Scala]] of ''[[La vestale]]'' in December 1954, his career included a famous revival of ''[[La traviata]]'' at [[La Scala]] in 1955 with [[Maria Callas]] and an equally famous ''[[Anna Bolena]]'' (also at La Scala) in 1957 with Callas. A significant 1958 [[Royal Opera House]] (London) production of Verdi's five-act Italian version of ''[[Don Carlos]]'' (with [[Jon Vickers]]) followed, along with a ''[[Macbeth (Verdi)|Macbeth]]'' in [[Spoleto]] in 1958 and a famous black-and-white ''[[Il trovatore]]'' with scenery and costumes by [[Filippo Sanjust]] at the Royal Opera House in 1964. In 1966 Visconti's luscious ''[[Falstaff (opera)|Falstaff]]'' for the [[Vienna State Opera]] conducted by [[Leonard Bernstein]] was critically acclaimed. On the other hand, his austere 1969 ''[[Simon Boccanegra]]'' with the singers clothed in geometrical costumes provoked controversy.

== Filmmaking style and themes ==
In the [[Aftermath of World War II#Italy|aftermath of World War II]] he became one of the founding fathers of the [[Italian neorealism|Italian neorealistic film]] movement that focused on challenging economic and conditions, and how it affected the psyche of the underclass. Visconti himself came from nobility, was highly educated and was never in financial lack. His films reflected that tension. In fact, Visconti said he felt he came from a world long ago, that of the previous (19th) century.

In the film ''The Leopard'', he addressed the decline of an old social order and the rise of “modern times”. He did not see his opulent flashbacks as an escape into imaginary, lost worlds, but rather as the deciphering of signs. He wanted to put his finger on the signs of profound historical changes which would only become visible later. He searched world literature for relevant works to show the discrepancies between generations and their world views, as a task of realism in art. When he was accused of decadence, he recalled [[Thomas Mann]] and his way of creating art.<ref>L. Schifano: ''Luchino Visconti. Fürst des Films'', biography (German translation), 1988, p. 406−408</ref>

== Personal life ==
In later years, Visconti made no secret of his [[homosexuality]], though he remained a devout Catholic throughout his life.<ref name="soc">{{cite web|last=Carr|first=Jeremy|title=Visconti, Luchino|url=https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2018/great-directors/luchino-visconti/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20211001033803/https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2018/great-directors/luchino-visconti/|archive-date=1 October 2021|work=[[Senses of Cinema]]|series=Great Directors|date=22 July 2005 |issue=87|access-date=1 October 2021}}</ref> "I am a Catholic," he commented in 1971. "I was born a Catholic, I was baptized a Catholic. I cannot change what I am, I cannot easily become a [[Protestantism|Protestant]]. My ideas may be unorthodox, but I am still a Catholic."<ref name="flatley" /> While his first 3-year-relationship from 1936, with the photographer 
[[Horst P. Horst]], remained discreet because of the prejudices of the time, he later showed up openly in the company of his lovers, among them the director and producer [[Franco Zeffirelli]]<ref>Silva, Horacio, [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/style/tmagazine/t17visconti.html "The Aristocrat"], ''The New York Times'', 17 September 2006. (Overview of Visconti's life and career) Retrieved 7 November 2011</ref> and the actor [[Udo Kier]].<ref>Laurence Schifano: ''Luchino Visconti. Prince of film'', biography, 1988</ref> His last lover was the [[Austria]]n actor [[Helmut Berger]], who played Martin in Visconti's film ''[[The Damned (1969 film)|The Damned]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Damned|url=http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/damned-1970-2|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130707020851/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/damned-1970-2|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 July 2013|access-date=30 March 2020}}</ref> Berger also appeared in Visconti's ''[[Ludwig (film)|Ludwig]]'' in 1973 and ''[[Conversation Piece (film)|Conversation Piece]]'' in 1974, along with [[Burt Lancaster]]. Zeffirelli also worked as part of the crew in production design, as assistant director, and other roles in a number of Visconti's films, operas, and theatrical productions. According to Visconti's autobiography, he and [[Umberto II of Italy]] had a romantic relationship during their youth in the 1920s.<ref>Dall'Oroto, Giovanni "Umberto II" from ''Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History'', London: Psychology Press, 2002 p. 453.</ref>

Visconti was hostile to the [[Protests of 1968]] and didn't even try to follow the movement and adopt the airs of youth, like [[Alberto Moravia]] or [[Pier Paolo Pasolini]] did (although the latter was certainly not sympathetic towards the protestors). In his view, the protesters sought change for the sake of destruction without building something new. Disgusted, he looked at the young people in their enthusiasm, outbursts of anger, parties and tumults, their abstract speeches, their juggling with [[Mao]], [[Marx]], and [[Che Guevara]]. They saw him as a symbol of reaction, a member of the mandarin caste. The emerging radical-left [[terrorism in Italy]] frightened him and made him fear the rise of a new [[fascism]].<ref>L. Schifano: ''Luchino Visconti. Fürst des Films'', biography (German translation), 1988, p. 412−415</ref>

Visconti has a [[grandnephew]], [[Uberto Pasolini]], who is also a filmmaker.<ref name="uberto1">{{Cite news |title=Director Uberto Pasolini presents his movie on loneliness in Madrid |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2014/11/19/director-uberto-pasolini-presents-his-movie-on-loneliness-in-madrid/ |date=2016-09-21 |access-date=2024-09-09 |work=[[The San Diego Union-Tribune]] |editor-last=Light |editor-first=Jeff |issn=1063-102X |quote=His surname is [[Pasolini (surname)|Pasolini]] and he is a [[grandnephew]], on his mother's side, of late Italian film director Luchino Visconti. |author-mask=4 |author-link=Staff writer}}</ref> (Uberto, however, has no known relation to the aforementioned director, [[Pier Paolo Pasolini]].)<ref name="uberto2">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nihrff.de/en/nowhere-special/ |title=''Nowhere Special'' — Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival |date=2021-07-16 |access-date=2024-09-09 |website=NIHRFF Website |author-link=Staff writer |quote=BIOGRAPHY: Uberto Pasolini was born in [[Rome]] in 1957, surprisingly not related to [[Pier Paolo Pasolini]], but a (grand-)nephew of Luchino Visconti. |author-mask=4}}</ref>

== Health issues and death ==
[[File:Luchino Visconti 1972.jpg|thumb|Visconti in 1972]]
Visconti smoked 120 [[cigarettes]] a day.<ref>{{cite news|last=Thomson|first=David|date=15 February 2003|title=The decadent realist|newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/feb/15/featuresreviews.guardianreview22|access-date=26 December 2017|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref> He suffered a serious [[stroke]] in 1972, but continued to smoke heavily.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} He died in Rome of another stroke at the age of sixty-nine on 17 March 1976.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/luchino-visconti|title=Luchino Visconti &#124; Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> 
The church funeral service for Visconti took place on March 19, 1976, in [[Sant'Ignazio, Rome|Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio]] in Rome. In addition to the Visconti family, the Italian President [[Giovanni Leone]] and the actors [[Burt Lancaster]],<ref name="BFI biography">{{cite web |author=The British Film Institute |author-link=British Film Institute |title=Luchino Visconti Biography |url=http://www.luchinovisconti.net/visconti_pg/biography.htm |website=luchinovisconti.net |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216210617/http://www.luchinovisconti.net/visconti_pg/biography.htm |archive-date=2020-02-16 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Claudia Cardinale]], [[Laura Antonelli]], [[Vittorio Gassman]] and [[Helmut Berger]] were present.

There is a museum dedicated to the director's work in [[Ischia]] where he had his summer residence ''La Colombaia''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ischia.it:443/en/colombaia-by-luchino-visconti|title=Ischia.it english - Colombaia by Luchino Visconti|first=La|last=Colombaia|website=La Colombaia Museum, Museums, Forio d'Ischia, Isola d'Ischia. It is being designed the museum dedicated to the Master Visconti...}}</ref>

== Work ==
===Filmography===

====Feature films====
{| class=wikitable
|-
! Year
! Original title
! International English title
! Awards
|-
| 1943 || {{Lang|it|[[Ossessione]]}} || ''Obsession'' ||
|-
| 1948 || ''[[La terra trema]]'' || ''The Earth Will Tremble'' || Special International Award — [[9th Venice International Film Festival]]<br />Nominated – [[Golden Lion|Grand International Prize of Venice]] — 9th Venice International Film Festival
|-
| 1951 || ''[[Bellissima (film)|Bellissima]]'' || ''Bellissima'' ||
|-
| 1954 || ''[[Senso (film)|Senso]]'' || ''Senso'' or ''The Wanton Countess'' || Nominated – Golden Lion — [[15th Venice International Film Festival]]
|-
| 1957 || ''[[White Nights (1957 film)|Le notti bianche]]'' || ''White Nights'' || [[Silver Lion|Silver Lion Prize]] – [[18th Venice International Film Festival]]<br />Nominated – Golden Lion — 18th Venice International Film Festival
|-
| 1960 || ''[[Rocco and His Brothers|Rocco e i suoi fratelli]]'' || ''Rocco and His Brothers'' || Special Prize – [[21st Venice International Film Festival]]<br />[[FIPRESCI]] Prize – 21st Venice International Film Festival<br />1961 [[Nastro d'Argento]] for Best Director<br>1961 Nastro d'Argento for Screenplay<br>Nominated – Golden Lion — 21st Venice International Film Festival
|-
| 1963 || ''[[The Leopard (1963 film)|Il gattopardo]]'' || ''The Leopard'' || {{Lang|fr|[[Palme d'Or]]|italic=no}} – [[1963 Cannes Film Festival]]
|-
| 1965 || ''[[Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa]]'' || ''Sandra'' || Golden Lion — [[26th Venice International Film Festival]]
|-
| 1967 || ''[[The Stranger (1967 film)|Lo straniero]]'' || ''The Stranger'' || Nominated – Golden Lion — [[28th Venice International Film Festival]]
|-
| 1969 || ''[[La caduta degli dei]]'' || ''The Damned'' || 1970 [[Nastro d'Argento]] for Best Director <br> Nominated – [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay]] — [[42nd Academy Awards]]
|-
| 1971 || ''[[Death in Venice (film)|Morte a Venezia]]'' || ''Death in Venice'' || 25th Anniversary Prize — [[1971 Cannes Film Festival]]<br>[[David di Donatello for Best Director]] — 16th David di Donatello Awards<br>1972 [[Nastro d'Argento]] for Best Director<br>Nominated — {{Lang|fr|Palme d'Or|italic=no}} — 1971 Cannes Film Festival<br>Nominated — [[BAFTA Award for Best Film]] — [[25th British Academy Film Awards]]<br>Nominated — [[BAFTA Award for Best Direction]] — 25th British Academy Film Awards
|-
| 1973 || ''[[Ludwig (film)|Ludwig]]'' || ''Ludwig'' || David di Donatello for Best Director — 18th David di Donatello Awards
|-
| 1974 || ''[[Conversation Piece (film)|Gruppo di famiglia in un interno]]'' || ''Conversation Piece'' || 1975 [[Nastro d'Argento]] for Best Director
|-
| 1976 || ''[[L'innocente]]'' || ''The Innocent'' ||
|}

====Other films====
* ''{{Interlanguage link|Giorni di gloria|it|3=Giorni di gloria (film)}}'', documentary, 1945
* ''[[Appunti su un fatto di cronaca]]'', short film, 1951
* ''[[Siamo donne]]'' (''We, the Women''), 1953, episode ''Anna Magnani''
* ''[[Boccaccio '70]]'', 1962, based on the episode ''Il lavoro'' in [[Giovanni Boccaccio|Boccaccio]]'s ''[[The Decameron|Decameron]]''
* ''[[Le streghe]]'' (''The Witches''), 1967, episode ''La strega bruciata viva''
* ''{{Interlanguage link|Alla ricerca di Tadzio|it}}'', TV movie, 1970

===Opera===

{| class=wikitable
|-
! Year
! Title and Composer
! Opera House
! Principal cast / Conductor
|-
|1954
|''[[La vestale]]'',<br />[[Gaspare Spontini]] 
|[[La Scala]]
|Maria Callas, [[Franco Corelli]], [[Ebe Stignani]], [[Nicola Zaccaria]]<br />Conducted by [[Antonino Votto]]<ref>Ardoin 1977, p. 89</ref>
|-
|1955
|''[[La sonnambula]]'',<br />[[Vincenzo Bellini]], 
|La Scala 
|Maria Callas, [[Cesare Valletti]], [[Giuseppe Modesti]]<br />Conducted by [[Leonard Bernstein]]<ref>Ardoin 1977, p. 93</ref>
|-
|1955
|''[[La traviata]]'', <br />[[Giuseppe Verdi]]
|La Scala 
|Maria Callas, [[Giuseppe Di Stefano]], [[Ettore Bastianini]]<br />Conducted by [[Carlo Maria Giulini]]<ref>Ardoin 1977, p. 96</ref>
|-
|1957
|''[[Anna Bolena]]'',<br />[[Gaetano Donizetti]]
|La Scala
|Maria Callas, [[Giulietta Simionato]], [[Nicola Rossi-Lemeni]]<br />Conducted by [[Gianandrea Gavazzeni]]<ref>Ardoin 1977, p. 120</ref>
|-
|1957
|''[[Iphigénie en Tauride]]'',<br />{{Nowrap|[[Christoph Willibald Gluck]]}}
|La Scala
|Maria Callas, Franceso Albanese, [[Anselmo Colzani]], [[Fiorenza Cossotto]]<br />Conducted by [[Nino Sanzogno]]<ref>Ardoin 1977, p. 123</ref> 
|-
|1958
|''[[Don Carlo]]'', Verdi
|[[Royal Opera House]],<br />London
|[[Jon Vickers]], [[Tito Gobbi]], [[Boris Christoff]], [[Gré Brouwenstijn]]<br />Conducted by [[Carlo Maria Giulini]]<ref>''Viscontiana'' 2001, p. 113</ref>
|-
|1958
|''[[Macbeth (Verdi)|Macbeth]]'', Verdi
|[[Spoleto festival|Spoleto Festival]]
|William Chapman & [[Dino Dondi]]; Ferruccio Mazzoli & Ugo Trama;Shakeh Vartenissian.<br />Conducted by [[Thomas Schippers]]<ref>''Viscontiana'' 2001, pp. 62–63</ref>
|-
|1959
|''[[Il duca d'Alba]]'', Donizetti
|Spoleto Festival<ref name=VISC142/>
|Luigi Quilico, [[Wladimiro Ganzarolli]], [[Franco Ventriglia]], Renato Cioni, Ivana Tosini.<br />Conductor: Thomas Schippers<ref name=LIRIC>[http://www.luchinovisconti.net/visconti_pg/teatro_lirica.htm "Lirica": Operas directed by Visconti] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150803001807/http://www.luchinovisconti.net/visconti_pg/teatro_lirica.htm |date=3 August 2015 }} on luchinovisconti.net</ref>
|-
|1961
|''[[Salome (opera)|Salome]]'', [[Richard Strauss]]
|Spoleto Festival<ref name=VISC142/>
|[[George Shirley]], Lili Chookasian, Margarei Tynes, Robert Anderson, Paul Arnold.<br />Conductor: Thomas Schippers<ref name=LIRIC/>
|-
|1963
|''Il diavolo in giardino'',<br />[[Franco Mannino]] (1963)
|[[Teatro Massimo]], Palermo<ref name=VISC142>''Viscontiana'' 2001, p. 142</ref>
|[[Ugo Benelli]], Clara Petrella, Gianna Galli, Antonio Annaloro, Antonio Boyer.<br />Conductor: Enrico Medioli.<br />Libretto: Visconti & Filippo Sanjust<ref name=LIRIC/>
|-
|1963
|''[[La traviata]]'', Verdi
|Spoleto Festival
|Franca Fabbri, [[Franco Bonisolli]], Mario Basiola<br />Conducted by Robert La Marchina<ref>''Viscontiana'' 2001, p. 64</ref>
|-
|1964
|''[[Le nozze di Figaro]]'',<br />[[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]]
|[[Teatro dell'Opera di Roma]]<ref name=VISC/>
|Rolando Panerai, Uva Ligabue, Ugo Trama, Martella Adani, Stefania Malagù.<br />Conductor: Carlo Maria Giulini<ref name=LIRIC/>
|-
|1964
|''Il trovatore''
|[[Bolshoi Opera]], Moscow (September)
|Pietro Cappuccilli, [[Gabriella Tucci]], [[Giulietta Simionato]], [[Carlo Bergonzi (tenor)|Carlo Bergonzi]]<br />Conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni<ref>''Viscontiana'' 2001, p. 65</ref>
|- 
|1964
|''Il trovatore'', Verdi
|[[Royal Opera House]], London (November)<br />(Sanjust production)
|[[Peter Glossop]], [[Gwyneth Jones (soprano)|Gwyneth Jones]] & [[Leontyne Price]], Giulietta Simionato, [[Bruno Prevedi]]<br />Conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini<ref>''Viscontiana'' 2001, p. 65–66</ref>
|-
|1965
|''Don Carlo'', Verdi
|[[Teatro dell'Opera di Roma]]
|[[Cesare Siepi]], Gianfranco Cecchele, [[Kostas Paskalis]], [[Martti Talvela]], [[Suzanne Sarroca]], Mirella Boyer.<br />Conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini.<ref>''Viscontiana'' 2001, p. 66</ref>
|-
|1966
|''[[Falstaff (opera)|Falstaff]]'', Verdi
|[[Vienna Staatsoper]]
|[[Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau]], [[Rolando Panerai]], [[Murray Dickie]], [[Erich Kunz]], [[Ilva Ligabue]], [[Regina Resnik]].<br />Conducted by [[Leonard Bernstein]]<ref>''Viscontiana'' 2001, pp. 66–67</ref>
|-
|1966
|''[[Der Rosenkavalier]]'', Strauss
|[[Royal Opera House]], London<ref name=VISC>''Viscontiana'' 2001, p. 143</ref>
|[[Sena Jurinac]], [[Josephine Veasey]], [[Michael Langdon]].<br />Conductor: [[Georg Solti]]<ref>[http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/performance.aspx?performance=11997&row=0 Royal Opera House performance archive for 21 April 1966] on rohcollections.org.uk</ref> 
|-
|1967
|''[[La traviata]]'', Verdi
|[[Royal Opera House]], London
|[[Mirella Freni]], [[Renato Cioni]], [[Piero Cappuccilli]].<br />Conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini<ref>''Viscontiana'' 2001, p. 67</ref>
|-
|1969
|''[[Simon Boccanegra]]'', Verdi
|[[Vienna Staatsoper]]
|[[Eberhard Wächter (baritone)|Eberhard Wächter]], [[Nicolai Ghiaurov]], [[Gundula Janowitz]], [[Carlo Cossutta]]<br />Conducted by [[Josef Krips]]<ref>''Viscontiana'' 2001, p. 68</ref>
|-
|1973
|''[[Manon Lescaut (Puccini)|Manon Lescaut]]'',<br />[[Giacomo Puccini]]
|Spoleto Festival<ref name=VISC/>
|[[Nancy Shade]], [[Harry Theyard]], Angelo Romero, Carlo Del Bosco.<br />Conductor: Thomas Schippers.<ref name=LIRIC/>
|-
|}

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{reflist|30em}}
'''Sources'''
* Ardoin, John, ''The Callas Legacy'', London: Duckworth, 1977 {{ISBN|0-7156-0975-0}} 
* Bacon, Henry, ''Visconti: Explorations of Beauty and Decay'', New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998 {{ISBN|0-521-59960-1}}
* Düttmann, Alexander García, ''Visconti: Insights into Flesh and Blood'', translated by Robert Savage, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009 {{ISBN|9780804757409}}
* Glasenapp, Jörg (ed.): ''Luchino Visconti'' (= Film-Konzepte, vol. 48). Munich: edition text + kritik 2017.
* Iannello, Silvia, ''Le immagini e le parole dei Malavoglia'' Roma: Sovera, 2008 (in Italian)
* Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey, ''Luchino Visconti''. London: British Film Institute, 2003. {{ISBN|0-85170-961-3}}
* [http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/italianfilmbib.html#visconti Visconti bibliography], University of California Library, Berkeley. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
* Schifano, Laurence: ''Luchino Visconti'' (biography, in French), Paris 1987 (German translation: ''Luchino Visconti, Fürst des Films'', Gernsbach 1988)
* ''Viscontiana: Luchino Visconti e il melodramma verdiano'', Milan: Edizioni Gabriele Mazzotta, 2001. A catalog for an exhibition in Parma of artifacts relating to Visconti's productions of operas by Verdi, curated by Caterina d'Amico de Carvalho, in Italian. {{ISBN|88-202-1518-7}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Luchino Visconti}}
*{{IMDb name|0899581}}
*[http://www.luchinovisconti.net/ Biography, Filmography and More on Luchino Visconti] {{in lang|it}}
*British Film Institute: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120807012223/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9f478bc5 "Luchino Visconti"]: filmography
*Hutchison, Alexander, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150923211857/http://www.culturecourt.com/Scales/film/DVenice.htm "Luchino Visconti's ''Death in Venice''"], ''Literature/Film Quarterly'', v. 2, 1974. (In-Depth Analysis of ''Death in Venice'').
*{{Find a Grave|6810834}}

{{Luchino Visconti}}
{{David di Donatello Best Director}}
{{Nastro d'Argento Best Director}}
{{Cannes Film Festival jury presidents}}

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